together we stay
by fire.elve
Summary: the turks are on a mission, will they be able to fight against their enemies AND the trembling uncertainty about their teammates? i hate writing summaries...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: ok, you already know, but I don't own final fantasy. Thanks, like always, to my beta-reader! I love you! 

And thanks to all reviewers! Love you too!

_Together we stand…_

It was a rainy night. The barely visible crescent moon didn't give enough light to see other people on the streets and if at all, than without any detail. But exactly this worked for the Turks, each of them working in the dead of night relying mostly on sounds to coordinate themselves (and their targets). It would seem the rain hindered them, but the opposite was the case, the water covered ground increased the noise of each water soaked footstep along the streets.

Reno stood behind a corner, pressed tightly against the wall, almost blending in with the rough stone surface. The mass of drops made his hair fall wet into his face, the usually vibrant red colour dulled by the grey curtain the pouring rain provided. A smile on his lips he slowly turned his head around the corner, just seeing two men enter an old house. The colour had faded from the walls years ago. But Reno noticed something else about that abandoned structure, given the fact that it was just high enough to let a men of normal size stand inside, and that it's usual occupants rarely worked in sunlight nor, in fact, compliance with the law; suggested the fair possibility, that the house would have more than one floor below ground level.

It wouldn't be as easy a tracking as it had been for the previous hours, now that he had to follow the three men through a closed door and into unknown territory, and this increased the grin on Reno's face even more. He had stalked them for quite a while now, mindful of not being noticed, but he was hoping for a real challenge that would push his adrenalin and heartbeat to the maximum. The Turk turned back again, leaning back against the wet walls of the tenement, his black standard jacket already as soaked as his white shirt was, in short: he was soaked to the skin.

"Yo, they went into this so called warehouse. I'll follow!!" With that he turned and walked straight towards the house.

"No! Reno, do you listen? Don't go!" Immediately the Turk stopped, rolling his eyes.

"Why not?", he whispered not even trying to hide his disappointment. He kept on walking slowly, so as not to appear suspicious, but stayed in the street to watch if anything wrong was going on that could have been a reason for his commander's decision to hold him back.

"Damn, because I said so! You don't know-"

Suddenly Reno heard a sound, he turned towards the corresponding direction and just saw two people enter the house that he was still intend on entering, but what he saw let his eyes widen in shock, as he realized that the third person, who was unkindly manhandled into the building was a woman - Elena!

At that moment the redhead stopped thinking, he ripped the headset off of his ear. And without any other delay he stormed towards the entrance, pulling his weapon midst ride and readying it for whatever might await him behind those doors.

Tseng allowed his eyes to close in frustration. Why didn't Reno ever listen to a single word someone told him? But as fast as his anger rose, as fast was it turned into dread. Sure, the younger Turk interpreted the instructions in his own ways, but what could have happened that he disregarded such a clear order? Tseng had heard Reno's footsteps on the watery ground, running down the street, away from the headset he had dropped; he must have entered that mysterious house. Tseng didn't loose a second and began running.

Reno looked around. He felt neither nervous nor fearful. He knew that these guys must have had some sort of trick to get Elena captive; he had followed and watched them for quite a while, they were brutal, very brutal even, but not strong or intelligent enough to take on a Turk. But nevertheless a rush of adrenalin pulsated through his body- he was anxious about 'Lena!

It seemed like nobody had heard him entering the old house, and noone had remained in the big lobby that stretched behind the front doors. Though, Reno noted that 'lobby' was being a very vague term in this case.

The redhead found himself in a giant dark room, all the windows had been darkened with some sort of black paint. The room covered the whole floor, no doors were leading off to adjoining rooms or the outside, but the Turk could spot stairs in the left corner, small stairs leading down. He just realized the headset still in his hands and dropped it together with the phone on the stone-ground.

All in all it wasn't a very welcoming place, with the colour flaking off the walls, and dust covering the ground, inches thick in places that had been undisturbed for a while now. There was no chattel, apart from the huge chandelier in the middle of the room. Just then he heard a door shut, carefully but determined he walked up to where the noise had come from- the stairs. He concentrated hard to make as little noise as possible and to not walk into possible traps. Without problems he crossed the lobby, reaching the stairs he tried to look down their darkened length, but all he saw was another room, shrouded in darkness.

'_Congratulations, you found the way to the netherworld!' _he thought to himself. To hide the soft mako glow of his eyes he took his glasses off his forehead and placed them onto his eyes, cringing as wet strands of hair came loose and splashed in his face. Tucking them behind his ears he knelt down, and stuck his head down the trapdoor, from the opposite side of where the stairs made their descent. Seeing the room below him upside-down, he noticed that it was even darker than this one, but not a quarter as huge. It was moor like a small corridor, no more than two meters wide. Reno saw nothing to provide any light in there, 'seems like someone didn't want anybody to sniff around'. But there was no movement or sound, so Reno stood up and with a final glare he gripped the edge of the trapdoor, turned and softly let himself down, releasing his hold to land with feline grace on the floor below. He figured that the old wooden steps would not have taken kindly, or at least not silently to be walked upon.

On nearer inspection the Turk realized that this room looked a lot better than the last one, not only was the colour neat (even if it was the same lame beige), there were old frets above the doors. In the middle of the room Reno stopped and closed his eyes concentrating on each sound. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing except his own heartbeat. Sighing inwardly he walked towards the door up ahead. He turned the knob and opened the door.

Drops of sweat ran down Rude's dark forehead as he ran down the much too long streets of Edge. He had heard the conversation between his best friend and his boss through his headset, and now he tried everything possible to get to them. He knew Reno better than anyone else and good enough to know that something bad must have happened.

He reached the end of the street, rushed around the corner- not noticing the young lady who had planned the same. Rude jumped back up, turning around to throw the woman a cursory glance, to make sure that she was neither in peril nor a threat, when he noticed two things: one, she was pregnant and two, she was hanging onto his arm and refused to let go.

She insisted that he take her to the hospital immediately and refused to let him leave, thinking about valid reasons not to kill her, Rude figured it would probably be easier (and far less messy) to just comply. He commandeered her cabriolet and drove as far as the car would allow towards the nearest hospital. The screeches of the abused motor drowning out the terrified woman beside him, who just realised that it hadn't been much of a great idea to ask the large Turk for help.

Rude focused on keeping the speeding vehicle on the street, trying not to worry too much, he knew for a fact that Reno was good and well capable of taking care of himself, and Elena and Tseng had to be near, who would also react on the redhead's foolish action. Still ignoring the protesting woman next to him, who threatened him bodily harm he tried to find a way to turn this little detour to his advantage.

Stopping the car at the front door of the hospital, Rude didn't wait one second after the woman had left the car, when he already drove on. With the same speed he had come he finally headed in the direction he actually intended to go, towards where Reno would be.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: ok, like always, special thanks to my beta and my reviewers rivendellelve and sehellys!! Now on with the second chapter!

Chapter 2 

The unforgiving metal of a pistol was squeezing painfully against her ribs as her kidnappers led Elena through the whole building and to a small room two floors below ground level. The whole room was coloured a stark white, a few chairs were grouped around a small table, they, too were a spotless white. Elena scanned the room quickly, but what first captured her interest was the smell. She knew it very well, had probably smelled it more often than she would have liked, but right now she couldn't relate it to a source, couldn't remember just where she had smelled it before. It smelled mouldy, but also contained hints of some sort of chemical. Elena ignored the smell for the time being, maybe she would figure out later what caused it. Right now she was intend assessing her surroundings more thoroughly, hoping against hope that she would find a weakness, a chance for escape. To her right was another door, the white door frame barely registering against the white wall.

One of the men who had entered the room with her made his way towards the chairs, took one and placed it in the centre of the room. The man behind her, took that as a sign to jam the pistol harder in her ribs.

"Please, sit." He said sweetly, awakening in Elena the desire to either barf or punch him, but she doubted the consequences of such actions would be favourable for her and so she refrained from them. Instead she walked calmly towards the chair, the first man tying her hands behind the chair. The third man hadn't moved since they got here, his arms crossed in front of his chest he stood beneath the door as if waiting for someone to come through. But there was something that scared her much more than the frightening men who had captured her and the inevitable torture that she was sure would come.

They hadn't bound her eyes.

That meant two things, one, they knew that she had followed them, and that she therefore already knew their faces, and two, she wouldn't leave this building alive. But why bring her here to interrogate regardless? What would they want to know?

When I'm going to die anyway, why should I answer even one fucking question? The turk looked up towards the man with the weapon in his right hand (Elena realized casually that it was a Browning 9mm Hi-Power), he towered in front of her, and as he looked down at her, his sharp eyes boring into hers never flinching, she was sure that he was the leader of the trio. Elena stared back, maybe it would aggravate him, but right now that was the least of her worries, faced with imminent torture and probably certain death, Elena felt emotions well up inside her, taking control of her despite her turk training. She didn't care for cold logic to analyze her situation anymore, she knew only one thing she hated this guy, hated him with every fiber of her being.

In that moment he directed the weapon at her face.

"You will tell us what we want to know!" His voice left no room for arguments and little doubt as to what would happen should she refuse to cooperate. The expression on his face didn't change as he regarded her, if anything it hardened even more and despite the anger she felt, his look sent a shiver down the Turks spine.

"Why did your group follow us?"

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Tseng reached the street where Reno should have been when he broke contact. The Turk leader needed no more than a second to orient himself and locate the building the redhead had spoken of. Without hesitation he crossed the distance towards the main entrance.

He would not loose one of his men, not now, not in future.

He opened the door carefully and scanned the room beyond. Although the lighting was dim he immediately saw four men in the back of the room, walking towards a small flight of stairs. Tseng calculated the odds, the risks of taking all four of them on at once. Everything else would slow him down, and with two of his Turks lost, one of which in enemy hands, he had no time to spare. He would just rely on his fighting skills, and the element of surprise.

That was when his foot with something, with a loudly echoing clatter the small object skittered into the dark. The noise caused by the thing, Tseng realized it was the headset Reno must have dropped, seemed uncannily loud as it echoed from the distant walls. The men at the stairs whirled around and as their eyes met his, he could see the fear in them, maybe they had heard of him, or maybe they were just shocked that someone else had found their hideaway. But their expressions changed quickly, contorting into those of hate, concentration, or in one case, sardonic expectation.

Preparing himself for the attack, Tseng got into fighting position as the four men came running. The first arrived trying to deliver a fast blow against the Turk's head, but Tseng blocked easily, dealt a blow at his opponent's liver while he kicked the second man who had just arrived. But his opponent recovered quickly and counterattacked, the Wutaian dodged out of his striking distance and turned, now facing his first, bold enemy, who's smile had faded during the attack. Forcing his knee into the bold man's stomach, the villain curved.

A third man, blond to his ears and almost as skinny as Reno rushed in for the attack but ducked even before Tseng had done anything, instead he pushed himself off of the ground and aimed for Tseng's head, but in the last second the Wutaian managed to evade his foot. The head of the Turks could feel the sole of the boot graze his cheek, but failed to realize the danger behind him, when someone came running, smacked him in the back while a third took the Turk of his feet.

Tseng flashed into action, forcing his weight on his arms he performed a backflip delivering a hard kick against his closest opponent's jaw before landing once more on his feet. But he would need a plan, he wouldn't be able to defeat all of them simultaneously.

With a few jumps he brought some distance between himself and his attackers, this would buy him the time to rearrange himself. But the villains did the same, stopping a couple of paces in front of him they remained still, trying to come up with a plan to take the head of the Turks down. One of them still lay on the ground slowly regaining consciousness, and only the sound of his wincing and his long rhythmic breathing filled the room.

Tseng checked the possibilities he had with three enemies in front and a wall behind him. He wouldn't be able to reach the door, or he would have to go through them. Maybe he could get to the stairs so he could fight them one after another.

One of the three standing checked the one lying, who had just merely opened his eyes. Blondie looked like he would explode any moment, his head was red, less from effort than from anger, the last just checked himself over.

Tseng decided that he would make his way towards the stairs, but suddenly something at the corner of his eyes called his attention. A new plan was forming in his head, the hint of a smile passed his face at these new odds, but his opponents didn't care. The blond started racing, yelling so loud that even his accomplices were startled, one of them took a step back in surprise and stumbled against something.

The man attacking Tseng had no chance to win, he'd let his anger overtake his actions. When Tseng looked up from the unconscious man a second later he saw Rude walking over to him, the two remaining fighters were unconscious, as well.

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Reno stood before the door, trying to arrange his thoughts and adjust to what he had just heard from the other side of the door.

They wouldn't really kill her, would they? But they had kidnapped Elena, and after all she was a Turk, so they would probably know that they were being watched, and that there was more than just one "spy". Alright, these guys were brutal, that was certain, but would they really kill her? And could he risk this?

No, he couldn't! He tightened his grip on his Electro-Mag Rod, while grasping the door knob with the other hand. Without hesitating a second he pushed the door open, jumped in and was about to attack the first person he saw, when a shockingly loud bang echoed through the building.

A/N: next will be the last chapter! And if you have the time, please leave a review! it would really help me writing faster!!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: third and last chapter, thanks again to my reviewers rivendellelve and sehellys, **hug** you keep me writing (and you really know how to )

Chapter 3 

Elena was screaming and swearing like Reno had never heard before, never even thought she'd know some of the words. He saw blood, too much of it rushing down her left leg. Adrenalin caused by shock and wrath pulsated through his veins, and his body moved even before his mind ordered it to. His right arm gathered speed and he drove it with all his might into the next opponent, even before the man had realized someone had entered the room. He lost consciousness immediately and tumbled to the ground with a bloody face.

The one that stood next to Elena turned around, just to see red hair and a weapon smacking against his chest. Reno hadn't even realized that he was the one who had shot Elena when he attacked him a second time, his EMR collided with the man's chest again, before he had even collided with the hard cement floor.

The smell of blood filled the small room fast, but Reno knew he had to take care of the third man, before tending to Elena's injuries.

But his last opponent didn't put up much of a fight, though more than his comrades. Shocked by their fast and utter defeat he merely stared dumbly at the redhead. Barely getting into fighting position on time, when Reno attacked him. More by luck and instinct than expertise he blocked both Reno's fist aiming for his stomach and the thrust of his EMR to the head.

The look of barely restrained anger never wavered on Reno's face as he kicked the man in his unprotected side, so hard that he flew across the room and into the opposite wall. He was still on his feet, though visibly stunned but the Turk gave him one last blow, clutching his EMR tightly with both hands to maximize the force and release his rage.

Elena's screaming had decreased to a silent whimper. Reno ran over to her, dropping his weapon to the ground. Though it was not even a minute ago that the bullet had hit its target, Elena had lost a terrifying amount of blood. Reno ripped a stripe off of his shirt, all his concentration and hopes focused on his team-mate. He bound the make-shift bandage tightly around her thigh, trying to ignore the deep crimson that stained her formerly spotless uniform as he fought to keep her focused, and most of all conscious.

"Elena! Elena, look at me! Y'know where we are? Com'on, we'll get you fixed, OK? Elena!!"

But the blonde turk didn't really listen, and while the edges of her vision turned blurry and dark, the only thing she saw was a man stepping closer, like a hero coming to save her. Elena smiled when her eyes closed, relieved now that help had arrived. Then she drifted into unconsciousness.

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Rude and Tseng sat on the red upholstered chairs that adorned the corridor of the hospital. Rude looked at his boots as if they had suddenly become very interesting. Tseng stared into nothingness, every once in a while looking up when a nurse entered the white corridor.

The hospital wasn't too crowded, not astonishing, it was the dead of the night. Reno paced the corridor, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, except the door to Elena's room.

For more than an hour the three had stayed this way, their minds never leaving their female team-mate. The medics had told them, that she had lost much blood, but that they had some blood bottles in stock and after the surgery she would be as good as new. But there was still a risk, there was always a risk, who would know better than the Turks?

Reno hadn't spoken a word since Rude and Tseng had found them, and the bald turk wondered what could have happened, the redhead acted more than strange.

Softly the door to the emergency room was opened from the inside, an old man in a white lab coat exited the room and looked towards the three Turks. Reno was by his side in an instant while Rude and Tseng headed in his direction as well.

"How is she?" Reno was more than nervous. The doctor took a step back to get some air.

"Well, it looks quite good. I can't promise anything, she has lost a lot of blood, after all a bullet burst through her femoral artery…"

He hadn't even finished his sentence when Rude and Tseng already made their way towards the door and through. Reno looked after them, not quite sure what to do. The doctor rolled his eyes and left the redhead.

Reno headed towards the door, but he hesitated a moment before he slowly and silently walked in, stopping behind his two team-mates.

"How are you feeling?" Tseng stood besides the bed in which Elena sat, slowly blinking up at her team-mates.

"Just great…" she smiled barely able to keep her eyes open. Tseng and Rude just kept smiling at her, not quite sure what to say. Sensing Reno behind him, Rude let him pass.

But Reno wasn't sure what to do either. He had so much to say to her, after all it was his fault she was laying here. But how would she react? He looked down at her, his brow furrowing in concentration as he tried to come up with all possibilities. But then she opened her eyes again, and when she saw him, Elena just smiled warmly.

"Thanks" she whispered before drifting into a long restorative sleep. Reno smiled too, his mind leaving the questions that bothered him.

More at peace than he had been for a while he left the room with his fellow Turks and all three of them waited outside for Elena's reconvalescence.

The End 

A/N: probably my last and only final fantasy-ff, anyway, it was fun to write, so, thanks for reading!!


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